Enigmatic events
by Gearaxis
Summary: This story follows three different secret agents from an agency dedicated to protecting and maintaining the peace of Equestria. Enigma, however is having a hard time focusing on his work when his self proclaimed marefriend decides to follow him everywhere.
1. Chapter 1: a nice party part 1

**The beginning is a tad dull but don't worry, it gets actiony later on, please don't stop reading just because there's no action.**

A lone figure sat toward the back of the ornately decorated room. He sat quietly, observing the party while holding a glass of some foul tasting white liquid that he only held on to for the sake of appearances. His light blue eyes scanned the room, going from one partygoer to the next, some he recognized, and others he had yet to meet. His eyes finally fell on his friend who had managed to convince him to come along. Thoughtfully, he swirled the liquid in the glass and took a sip. He managed to suppress a grimace, the only reason he'd been drinking from the glass at all was that it would seem weird if he simply held on to a full glass the entire evening. At the head of the room sat the princesses, both regally dressed and simply observing the party from their thrones, not bothering to mingle as it would be unsightly for them to do such. His eyes met theirs momentarily; he nodded knowingly and set the glass on the tray of a passing servant before walking out onto the nearby balcony.

He passed through the red curtains, flipping them aside as though making a grand entrance. On the balcony, two others who appeared to have been drinking too much embraced each other and laughed quietly. Almost certainly they hadn't arrived together, he thought. He adjusted his black tuxedo into a more manageable position causing the ceremonial saber at his side to clink against a button on his suit. Damn the thing was itchy. As he gazed out over the edge of the balcony, he couldn't help but notice a presence beside him. He turned to face his friend, Bash, with a raised eyebrow. Bash was wearing a similar tuxedo though his was a dark shade of blue. He couldn't help but notice that it matched the color of Bash's eyes perfectly.

"It's almost as though you are consciously thinking about being antisocial." Bash snorted. He shook his head and looked out over the countryside. "Ah well, you never were one for large gatherings. You could at least say hello to more than two others. I brought you here to relax you know?"

"If you wanted me to relax, you could have brought me to a spa or something, I hear those are relaxing." Enigma replied with a slight grin. "Besides, a spa would suit you perfectly; if I didn't know you better I'd say you were growing soft. Did you even try to fight in our last mission?"

Bash snorted and halfheartedly punched Enigma. "It took you twice as long to take down your opponent, were you having a tea party or something?"

Enigma grinned broadly for the first time that evening. "He wouldn't shut up! Every other hit he went into a two minute monologue about how I was so obviously inferior and how I would be a piece of cake to defeat! If he had just shut up he may have had slightly more of a chance than when he was talking." Enigma looked over at where the other two had been earlier; they must have gone back inside as there was currently no one there. "You know, sometimes I wonder how our lives would be if we were… oh I don't know, bakers or smiths or something. Our lives would be much more uneventful I suppose, but maybe that isn't such a bad thing?" He glanced at Bash sideways.

"And you say I'm the one who's going soft, for one thing, the world would be a heck of a lot more dangerous, though I suppose our superiors would find someone else to get the job done."

They both grinned as if that was the funniest idea either of them had ever had. _"You boys having a fun night up there?"_ Enigma suddenly heard a female voice in his head.

"Hex, is that you? I can't hear you over your jealousy." Bash said. He grinned at Enigma who simply shook his head and rolled his eyes.

_"Hardy har har. I didn't want to come anyway, didn't want to make you ladies feel bad that I brought the prettier dress." _Hex said. _"Anyway, Headquarters asked me to tell you that they're forcing us to take a vacation. If we show up for work, they'll forcibly remove us and extend our vacation one week."_

Enigma raised an eyebrow. "They want us gone that badly eh? Are they at least going to activate us if something happens?" He looked down over the balcony to see if he could find Hex somewhere below.

_"Nope, said they'd let some of the younger teams handle it, though they said it halfheartedly and none of them looked sure of it." _She laughed melodically. She waved at enigma from the street outside of the gates to the castle.

Enigma waved back, "I give it one day after dispatching a younger team for them to ask us for help." Enigma said. He became aware of someone standing behind them.

"I'll take that bet and lower the time to 12 hours!" Bash said with a chuckle. Enigma turned slowly, instinctively preparing himself for a fight.

_"You're both being too generous. I bet you 100 bits it will take only two hours for them to go missing and or screw up." _Hex giggled. Enigma saw a dark figure behind them, silhouetted by the light of the party behind them. It was carrying something that he couldn't quite make out in the darkness. He half drew the saber from its sheath as he finally turned to face the figure.


	2. Chapter 2: a nice party part 2

A light on the balcony turned on to reveal a unicorn with a coat the color of late twilight and a mane as black as the night sky stood in the doorway holding two plates of the cake he had seen earlier on one of the tables. He sighed in relief and slid the blade back into its sheath then started in surprise when he heard Bash doing the same. Bash shook his head and spoke, "Don't sneak up on us like that. Also, I thought I told you to wait until I came to you." The mare rolled her eyes.

"Aw come on, it's boring in there and I wanted to meet this mysterious friend of yours." She said. Enigma examined her blankly, she was wearing a dark blue dress with a sapphire necklace that was almost darker than the dress itself.

Bash sighed and turned to Enigma. "This is Shadow Axis. She's the daughter of one of the merchants that resides in Canterlot. What was his name? Leer? Tear? Anyway, I was going to introduce you to her later but she seems to have taken the initiative." He said.

Enigma held out a hoof without changing the expression on his face. "Hello I'm Enigma. It's very nice to meet you Shadow Axis." He said. She put one of the plates of cake on his hoof and smiled.

"Enigma, huh? What a mysterious name!" She chuckled to herself a bit while a dark expression passed over Enigma's face. He picked up the fork on the plate and took a piece of cake, it tasted almost as strange as the liquid he'd been drinking earlier. _'I must be used to field rations or something...' _He thought as he placed the fork back down on the plate.

"So then, you've met me, now why don't you go your way and I'll go mine. I have some paper work to do and-" Bash cut him off abruptly.

"Paper work?! We're on vacation, you've got more than a week of doing nothing at all! Paper work, pah." Bash said. Enigma slowly turned his head to look at Bash directly. His expression said, "I'm going to murder everything you love, then you." But instead, he said, "Thank you Bash. I had FORGOTTEN."

Bash smiled and stepped to the side a bit. "Ooh! On vacation huh? Well then you'll have plenty of time to spend with me, I've been dying to go sightseeing with somepony ever since getting back from Stalliongrad!" Enigma frowned.

"Not to be rude, but why would I be escorting you around Canterlot? I only just met you." He glanced over at Bash who had a mysteriously evil expression on his face.

"Why, because that's what my colt friend is going to do for me!" She said. She made it sound as though it were common knowledge that Enigma was expected to be her colt friend. Enigma froze with a blank expression, barely even breathing. If you listened closely, you'd probably be able to hear a dial-up noise playing near him as he processed what she'd just said.

"Colt friend?" He asked in shock. "What do you mean Colt friend? We just met! I only know your name!" He said. Shadow Axis laughed at him and patted his shoulder.

"There's no need to be shy, I don't bite! Now come on! I need to introduce you to my parents! Er... father... mother decided to go partying with friends." She said suddenly frowning. Enigma's eye twitched as he slowly turned his head back to look at Bash who was barely suppressing laughter. He gave him the most homicidal look he could muster, causing Bash to take two more steps away from him. "Anyway, have you ever been to Stalliongrad? They're currently rebuilding the north end of the city, something about a hoof full of extremists left over from a war or something." Enigma remembered that his second to last mission had ended in him calling in an airstrike on the north end of Stalliongrad. He could still hear the sound of gunfire and explosions in his head as he answered. "Maybe once or twice..." He remembered a bomb blowing the front of a house off near by him as she continued.

"Oh! How nice! Maybe we passed each other and didn't even notice!" She laughed. It was then that Enigma noticed he was involuntarily following her toward the table closest to the thrones. At the table sat eight ponies, all wearing fancy clothing and dress sabers like him, though he doubted any of them actually knew how to use one.

Shadow Axis stopped in front of the table. "Enigma, this is my father, Gear." She gestured to a light light grey pony who was wearing a pair of goggles. "And these are his friends, umm... I don't remember their names." She frowned at them. Enigma looked at the gathered ponies with minor interest, he only recognized two of them, one was a clothier and the second was a baker.

Enigma regained his composure after a bit of awkward silence and shook his head with a smile. "Well it's very nice to meet you all, now if you'd excuse me, I have some business to-" Shadow cut him off.

"Oh no you don't! You're on vacation remember? Dad! This is my new Colt friend! Enigma! He's Bash's friend, you remember Bash right? He's the pony that told us to stay in doors that one night and had to forcibly remove mom from the street!" Shadow said excitedly. Enigma smiled as he remembered they had had to clear the streets a week ago to sweep for anything threatening for the princess's return.

"Colt friend huh?" Gear looked at him critically as though looking for the slightest flaw. He twitched his wings nervously and stopped smiling.

"Erm, no, I'm not her Colt friend, she just kind of forced it on my suddenly. I never agreed to anything." He glanced over at Shadow who was looking at him expectantly. "What?" He asked.

Gear stood up from the table and motioned for Enigma to follow. Shadow sat down in his spot and listened as the other seven began chatting. Enigma followed warily as Gear led him out into the entry way. Several ponies were chatting quietly here and there and several young ponies were attempting to make a guard move from his position. "Alright, now we can talk. Thing is, when my daughter says you're her colt friend, you're her colt friend. It doesn't matter how much you disagree or try to get away from her, she is going to find you and continue to act as though you're a couple." Gear stated bluntly.

Enigma looked at him in shock, "What? I don't get a say in this?! I have a very difficult line of work that takes me all over the place, I can't HAVE a mare friend even if I wanted one!" Gear sighed and pushed up his goggles to rub his eyes.

"Look, I like it even less than you do, how do you think I feel? My little filly suddenly declares a stranger is her colt friend, but there's no avoiding it." He pushed the goggles back down over his eyes and adjusted them before looking back at Enigma. "It's like how her mother and I met, she wouldn't leave me alone no matter what I did, eventually I just gave in and went along with it. After a while I found that I did love her and now I'd do anything to protect her. If you don't see where this is going, I'll just say it. You are going to be my daughter's colt friend and if anything happens to her, I'll rip off your wings and staple them to your eyes. Got it?" His expression never changed making his speech that much more terrifying.

"Uh, got it, sir." enigma stammered. He was still rather confused as to what was going on, but it made slightly more sense now. Shadow simply took after her mother more than her father. Gear nodded and began walking back to the table, leaving Enigma to think about everything that had happened this night.


	3. Chapter 3: after party brawl

Enigma stood for a while before walking back to the table Shadow was sitting at. As he walked he began to notice himself staggering a bit. His vision was beginning to blur as well. As he looked around at the other ponies he noticed they were also wobbling or, in a few cases, completely passed out on the floor. "Ah buck, I knew everything... everything tasted strange..." Ponies began collapsing at a faster rate. The guards, he noticed, were no where to be found. He staggered back to the table and used it to keep himself upright.

"What is going on?" one of the merchants asked confused. He was the only pony still conscious at the table. He also seemed to be unaffected by whatever was afflicting everypony else.

"How.. how much have you... drank or eaten?" Enigma asked. He shakily took one of the glasses and sniffed it. He couldn't smell anything wrong with it.

"I, I have only had a sip from this glass, why?" He stood up from the table, slightly loosing his balance but regaining it quickly. He and Enigma were now the only conscious ponies in the room. Five ponies wearing masks and servant uniforms entered through the kitchen door and advanced on the princesses.

"We've got to... defend the princesses!" Enigma staggered over to a position between the princesses and the five attackers. He'd had some experience with drunken boxing, but it required a shit ton of balance to be successful. He hoped his near intoxicated state along with experience would somehow translate into drunken boxing. The merchant, who Enigma remembered was named fancy pants, took Enigma's saber and wielded it in a defensive stance.

The pony in the lead nodded toward them and three broke off to fight them. Two went straight for Enigma while a third, wielding a serving platter, attacked Tsunami. Enigma staggered to the left letting the first pass by him then fell over on his right side while lashing out at the second attacker's legs. The second assailant jumped to the side and attempted to stomp on Enigma's side. Enigma rolled to the left and stood up, staggering backward and just barely ducked under the first attacker's swing. he came up and smashed his head into the first assailant's jaw, causing a satisfying crack and a yelp of pain. As the second opponent charged him, Enigma threw an uppercut, connecting with his jaw. At the highest point of the uppercut, Enigma fell backward and smashed the back of his first attacker with his elbow as he tried to recover.

Fancy pants, on the other hoof, was having an exceedingly difficult time taking care of his assailant. Every thrust was met with a parry from the serving platter, a slash was harmlessly deflected to the side, attempting to get closer resulted in the platter connecting with his face. Finally, after becoming too annoyed to think straight, took off one of his medals and lobbed it at the mare. She deflected it by holding the platter like a shield in front of her face. Tsunami took the chance to body check her, sending her backward five feet. He then jumped forward and brought the saber down as hard as he could onto the platter. It dented inward and smashed into the mare's face. He flipped it to the side with his sword and smashed the hilt into the side of her head. With his assailant out cold he looked back at Enigma who was currently using one of his opponents to block the second's attacks. "Don't worry... about me! Help the princesses!" He yelled weakly. His vision was getting worse and his blows were less effective now.

Fancy pants rushed past Enigma as he knocked the first assailant out cold, then did a back flip with the help of his wings to deliver a kick to the second's throat. The Colt flew backward into a table and lay motionless among the splintered remains. The only sign he was still alive was the rise and fall of his chest, indicating breathing. Enigma lay on the ground, too tired to do anything other than black out. He was vaguely aware of Fancy pants falling to the ground near him before the blackness overtook him.

Enigma awoke the next morning to the sound of hushed chatter and crying. He groggily sat up from his spot on the ground and looked around. Several medics were making sure everypony was alright while a group of doctors tended to an unconscious princess Celestia. She lay in a heap at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the thrones, not moving but breathing. Fancy pants was talking to two guards as a third stood vigil over the three ponies Enigma and Tsunami had fought that night. He held his head and breathed out in exhaustion. He was about to stand up to talk to Fancy pants when something tackled him from his left. "OHMYGOSHYOU'REALLRIGHTIWASSOWORRIEDABOUTYOU!" Shadow held him in a strangling hug as she practically yelled in his ear and soaked his shoulder with tears. Two medics pulled her off after a minute so they could check him for injuries. She spoke excitedly as they examined him. "What happened last night!? I just remember you and dad walking off to talk, then blank! And where did princess Luna go? She was here last night! Did something happen? Was it another one of those extremist attacks that I heard about at Stalliongrad? Are you alright? Who are those three ponies over there?" Enigma groaned in pain as one of the doctors pressed on his chest. Either Shadow had bruised his ribs or it had happened last night during the fight. Either way, it hurt.

"I don't know." He said. "I just tried to defend the princesses... I was too drugged to be of much use though." Fancy pants walked over and shook his head.

"You were plenty helpful! If you had not been there, they may have captured both princesses. They only escaped because one of them had a flash grenade with him." Enigma smiled slightly and shook his head.

"I only caught a small amount of your fight, I thought nobles were weak and afraid of fighting, you handled yourself rather well. But, why did you use my saber when you could have used magic?" He winced as as one of the doctors poked a sore spot.

"I tried to use magic but for some reason, I couldn't! I couldn't use any magic at all." He frowned thoughtfully and placed the borrowed saber on the floor near Enigma. "Here's that back. I have some things I must see to, do tell me if there is anything I can assist you with at any point in time."

Enigma nodded and Fancy walked away. Enigma then became aware of an acute lack of doctors around him. "Buck." was all he could get out before Shadow tackle hugged him again.


	4. Chapter 4: hard feelings all around

Enigma managed to shake Shadow off in time for Bash and Hex to arrive. "What the buck, Enigma!? I've been trying to contact you ever since you woke up! Why didn't you answer!?" Hex yelled at him. Bash shook his head and appeared to attempt to focus on something. Enigma looked at Hex confused.

"I haven't heard anything from you or Bash since we spoke on the balcony." The guards were beginning to remove citizens from the hall as they spoke. Enigma noticed that the three ponies he and Tsunami had taken down were still sitting on the floor, cuffed together. "Do you know any of those ponies over there? They were masquerading as butlers during the party."

Hex glanced at the three ponies and looked back at Enigma. "Never seen them before in my life. Now next time something like this happens I-" She was cut off by a guard as he walked over.

"You four need to leave immediately, this area is now off limits to the public until we find Princess Luna." He spoke in a gruff voice with a slight Scottish accent, his coat was brown and he didn't look like the other guards. Enigma, Bash, and Hex fished around in their pockets for a moment before pulling out small medallions on chains. The medallions were all different, Enigma's was a four pointed star, Bashes was a five pointed star, and Hex's was a six pointed star. All three had the letters "E.B.D.F.A" stamped in the middle of the star. The guard examined the medallions a moment then nodded. "Fine, but the dark coated unicorn has to leave."

"I'm with him!" She said, suddenly hugging Enigma tightly. She forced all the air out of him, making it so he didn't have the breath to protest with.

The guard rolled his eyes and walked away muttering, "Whatever."

Shadow let go of Enigma but stayed close to his side. "So what are those medals?" She asked curiously. She attempted to take Enigma's but he put it back in his pocket quickly.

"It's just our identification, like a name tag." He said to Shadow. "So then, shall we get started questioning the prisoners? We should get on this as soon as we can." Hex shook her head.

"We're on vacation remember? We CAN'T question the prisoners. I'm guessing a squad will be sent any time now." She looked around and saw three very official looking ponies. One was a pony, one was a pegasus, and the last was a unicorn. All three were wearing black tinted armor with their medallion embedded in the chest plate. They walked toward the prisoners expressionlessly and stopped when they were within striking distance. "Oh look at that. They sent literally the newest group in the organization. Are they even taking this kidnapping seriously?" Hex asked in disgust. Bash raised an eyebrow at the fancy armor they wore.

"They're using the standard issue armor? No one uses that. It clanks like a kitchen and shines like the sun, even in moonlight." He shook his head in disgust. "These three are going to die. I guarantee if they do this mission the way they're doing things now, they're going to die."

Enigma chuckled in amusement. "Who do they think that's going to impress? The prisoners? No pony ever takes you seriously when you wear that armor. It makes you look like a really tall turtle!" As if to prove his point, one of the prisoners laughed at the unicorn when he asked him a question. "Think we should help them?" Enigma asked. Shadow watched with interest, trying to take everything in.

"_If I just stay quiet, they won't know I'm here." _She thought as she followed them toward the prisoners. They approached the three smugly, all three had an insult prepared. Enigma was first.

"So, have you three shiny, clanking, black turtles seen the three ponies who were supposed to be interrogating the prisoners? We really need them here soon." One of the prisoners snickered.

Hex was up next. "Soooo, did every other squad die or something? Is that why they sent you guys? Cause usually they send ponies who know what their doing in these situations." A second prisoner nodded his head in approval.

Bash was last. "I, for one, am impressed you have the self esteem it takes to wear those garbage cans out in public. What's your secret? Complete obliviousness to your surroundings? A deep self hatred that makes you want others to look down on you?" The third prisoner laughed evilly.

The unicorn glared at the four murderously. "We ARE the interrogators, we were sent because the council felt we would do best, and we wear this armor with pride for the organization, seeing as no pony else will. I'm just going to assume that you three are the hay for brains who let the princess get kidnapped. Nice job." He said sarcastically.

Enigma rolled his eyes. "If we hadn't been here, there would be two kidnapped princesses and zero prisoners to interrogate. I'd like to see one of you fight off two ponies while half asleep and dizzy." The first prisoner nodded in agreement.

"Ya'll look like ya could hardly fight off a trainin' dummy." The first prisoner said. The second chimed in as well. "I agree vith him, you vould stand nicht chance against us." The third shook her head at them. "I'm guessing zat you three vould be incapable of zee fast movement in such ridiculous armor."

Enigma made a mental note of their accents, placing one from the south, the second from Germaneigh, and the third from Prance. "If you want, we could come out of vacation a tad early and help you interrogate these prisoners, if you allow us to tag along with you to make sure you don't get yourselves killed."

The unicorn, who was apparently the only one worthy of speaking, snorted in disgust. "We are perfectly capable of interrogating these prisoners ourselves. Now move along, CIVILIAN, you are interfering with our work." Enigma narrowed his eyes at being called civilian.

"You know, I was seriously considering helping you ponies out, but now I'm just going to sit back and watch you fail miserably at interrogating. When you're done, I might do a little interrogating myself. You know, get everything you missed, which will probably be most of the information. Since you three are going to be incapable of completing this mission quickly, we're going to have to do it for you. Trust me, you're already three steps behind us. Notice how Hex has been gone for most of this conversation? She's questioning guards. Can't find Bash? He's questioning the party guests. Me? I'm just waiting for three little maggots to vacate the premises." He said.

The three ponies and Shadow looked around in surprise when they noticed Bash and Hex were in fact missing. "Whoa." Shadow said in awe.


	5. Chapter 5: interrogation

Enigma walked until he was just barely within range of hearing and sat down to wait for the three to leave. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Hex talking to two of the guards, he couldn't tell what they were saying, but it seemed as though Hex was a little bit annoyed. He turned his attention back to the prisoners when he heard the interrogation begin. The unicorn started by telling the three ponies that if they cooperated, he could get them out of being executed. Enigma rolled his eyes, attempted kidnapping got you 50 years in prison max, actually kidnapping one of the princesses would likely get life in prison, the death penalty hadn't been used in over a hundred years.

After a while Enigma simply lost interest, these three were not very good at interrogations and their threat to torture them was met with laughter. After about twenty minutes, the pegasus walked over to Enigma. "Ah, hello sir... the interrogations are... not going smoothly. I was hoping you would lend a hand? I'm agent Dawn Wing by the way." She held out a hoof and Enigma shook it.

"Just call me Enigma, was this a group consensus? Your leader seems a tad angry that you walked over here." He said looking over at the unicorn who was glaring at them both.

"Oh... yes, it was a group consensus. Iron is just a little nervous, this is our first big mission and he really doesn't want mess it up." She said, she adjusted her helmet letting a bit of bright gold colored hair come down. She smiled a bit then noticed Shadow. "Oh, she was with your group earlier, is she helping us?" She asked.

Enigma turned and looked at Shadow. "No, she isn't. In fact, why don't you go home. I'm sure your father is worried about you." He said. She shook her head and stayed put right where she was. Enigma sighed. "Fine, but one word and I'll have the guards escort you out. Now then, let's get this started shall we?" Enigma stood and followed Dawn Wing to the others. He stood in front of Iron and looked him up and down. "I'll apologize for treating you roughly, but seriously, loose the armor. You look ridiculous." He said.

Iron opened his mouth angrily to say something but just closed it. "Apology accepted. I guess. If we don't wear our armor, what do we wear?" He asked. Enigma thought for a while before shrugging.

"Alright," he turned to the prisoners, "you three are looking at 50 years of prison top, maybe 55 but you aren't going to be executed. Depending on how helpful you are, I can extend, shorten, make more comfortable, or make less comfortable your stay. All three of you know exactly what you were doing at the time I assume?" The three of them nodded. "Alright, you're from prance, correct?" He asked pointing at the one on the right. She nodded her head in confusion, "Yes, but vhat does zat 'ave to do vith anyzing?" Enigma turned to the one in the middle. "Germaneigh?" The prisoner nodded. The last one spoke up before Enigma could ask the question. "Ya, ahm from Equestria." Enigma nodded.

"Alright, now how did you three, along with your two mysterious accomplices, meet? Were you contacted by somepony?" None of the three spoke. Enigma sighed, "Alright, we'll come back to that one. Were you going to be payed for the kidnapping?" He asked. None of them spoke for a minute, then the pony from prance spoke up. "Ve vere going to ranzom zee prinzesses, zen split zee bits." Enigma nodded in approval. "What is your name?" He asked. "Grape Vine." she said. "Well grape vine, you've knocked five years off of your prison visit." He said. He pulled out a notepad and wrote something down.

"How did you drug everypony?" He asked. The pony from Equestria spoke this time. "We were given a powder ta poison the drinks with. We were told it was only effective in large amounts though. Mah name's Rhubarb by the way." He said. Enigma nodded and wrote down his name along with five tally marks. "Who gave you the powder?" Rhubarb opened his mouth but Enigma cut him off. "Let's let Germaneigh have a chance to talk, ok?" Rhubarb nodded and Enigma turned to the final pony. "Ve never met him, he only ever left notes for us. The last note ve received had the powder and instructions." Enigma nodded. "My name ist sickle." He said. Enigma wrote it down.

"Do you still have any of the letters or powder?" Enigma asked. Rhubarb shook his head. "We were told ta burn em' and we used up all the powder in ta drinks." Enigma wrote down five more tallies for Rhubarb. "Can you tell me the names of the two ponies who got away?" He asked. All three remained silent. "Can you tell me where you were going to take the princesses?" Again, there was only silence. Enigma sighed and crossed out five tallies for each of them. "Can you tell me why you were kidnapping the princesses?" They looked down a little guiltily. "Ah... mah farm ain't doin so well, we've had drought and insects fer the last two months. Ah needed the bits somethin fierce. Ah got a letter bout a week ago, and that's when ah came here." Next to speak was Grape Vine. "My vinery vas recently burned down, ve don't know how, but it's gone. I received a letter just like zem." Finally sickle spoke last. "I vas contacted ven I vas fired from my job as ein wheat harvester. I just needed the bits..."


	6. Chapter 6: warehouse raid

Enigma nodded. "Thank you for your cooperation, I'll see what I can do about having your prison time reduced. In the meantime, if you think of anything you want to tell me, ask one of the guards to find Enigma, Bash, or Hex." Enigma flipped his notebook closed and walked off to the side. He noticed princess Celestia was now conscious, but the doctors insisted she remain lying down. He sighed and shook his head before turning to the other three agents. "Well, from what I've heard, this is what's going on. Five separate disasters cause five ponies to loose their jobs, during this time, somepony sends them letters promising them a large amount of bits if they do exactly what this pony wants. So they follow the instructions and attempt to kidnap the princesses. I don't think they were lying, though if they were simple ponies living out their lives, then why were they so good at hoof to hoof combat and why didn't they immediately tell us what we needed to know. They have to know their lives are pretty much ruined now that they've been captured."

Hex ran over a moment later. "I spoke with all of the guards, All of them say they were telepathically commanded by princess Celestia to do various things. About half of the guards were told to patrol the hallways away from the party, two or three were told to assist one of the party guests whose wagon had broken down, however, nopony was in the indicated area. Five of them were told to just take the night off and sleep, and the rest were told there was a disturbance at the main gate that needed to be dealt with. I just talked to the princess, she has no memory of ever telepathically communicating with anyone during the party." She raised an eyebrow at the three agents.

Enigma frowned. "All five of the kidnappers were ponies, unless one of the party guests did something, it had to have been somepony somewhere else." As if on que, Bash walked over at that moment. "No pony saw anything out of the ordinary before or after they were unconscious. None of the guests remember using any magic during the party, nor did anypony see any other guests using magic." Enigma nodded in thanks. "Well. This is a problem. We need to focus on finding Princess Luna now. The prisoners wouldn't give me anything to go on so we're back at square one practically." Bash thought for a moment then smiled evilly. "Give me a moment."

Everypony looked at him with interest as he walked over to the prinsoners. He said something to Rhubarb who in turn said nothing. Bash then punched him hard enough to make Rhubarb skid backwards and Sickle to move back slightly as well. Rhubarb lay on the floor unconcious as Bash stepped over to a horrified Grape Vine. He asked the question again and she could only open her mouth wordlessly. He knocked her unconscious as well and turned to Sickle who blurted out, "Warehouse 5! He said there'd be a note there for us!" Bash smiled and patted him on the head, causing him to flinch. Everypony looked at him with wide eyes when he got back to the group. "Well what are we waiting for? Let's get going! Time's a wasting!"

* * *

A while later the seven ponies arrived at warehouse 5 along with seven of the guards and the captain, shining armor. "Alright, you seven go around back and make sure they can't escape that way." Shining commanded, the guards saluted and ran toward the back. "Now, I'm going to blast open the doors, then I want you six to charge in, per your request, I'll stay out here and make sure Shadow doesn't interfere." Enigma nodded and looked over at Iron. Dawn Wing was pulling off her armor nearby to reveal a beautiful light yellow coat and a flowing golden mane. Her Cutiemark was two lightning bolts crossed in an X. Enigma almost stared at her but managed to look over at the other two. they both began taking their armor off after a moment as well. When everypony was ready, Shining used magic to blow off the lock and hinges on the large doors, causing them to fall in. They hit the floor with a loud thud and dust was sent up from the dirt floor. The six agents rushed in, ready for battle, but the structure was empty. A fire in the corner caught Enigma's eye, he walked over and saw a scrap of paper, half burnt, near the flames.

"They were here recently, it looks like they left in a hurry though. They left their masks over here and I'm pretty sure that's a piece of Princess Luna's dress." Bash called out. Enigma picked up the burnt piece of paper and examined it. The only legible area appeared to be the bottom right corner of the letter. _"Immediately. Burn this letter when- don't be late- pay depends on how- attached map." _Is all it said. There wasn't even a signature. "This letter isn't anything to go on. It looks like it was typed." Enigma said. He gave it to Hex to examine as he walked over to the others.

"If they're still in the city, the royal guard will find them. I've already sent out teams with search warrants. Shining said as he stepped inside. Enigma nodded at him. "Alright," He pulled out his notebook and wrote 'Princess Celestia, for your safety, do not leave the castle until Luna is found. If you need to talk to anypony, please have one of your guards deliver a message. In accordance with the E.B.D. Emergency situation code, I am temporarily seizing control of the city and enforcing Martial Law. If you have any concerns, please speak with Shining Armor. Enigma, fourth tier agent of E.B.D.' He then handed the paper to Shining Armor. "Make sure this gets to princess Celestia. I am placing Canterlot under martial law until this is sorted out, you are in charge of enforcement. Can you handle that?" Shining frowned and nodded. "Yes, but is this all necessary? They couldn't have left the city yet, there's still a chance we can find them." Enigma nodded. "Then find them, but deliver the letter. The curfew is 9pm, nopony is allowed outside after 9pm except for the guard patrols. Tell the guards that the princess well NOT be speaking to any of them telepathically and they are to report any instances of communication immediately. do I make myself clear?"

Shining nodded and galloped off with the guards he had brought along. "They can't leave by train while Princess Luna is with them, so they've either taken the north or south gate. Iron, take your team to the south gate and ask the guards if they've seen anypony leaving with anything suspicious. Also ask if they've seen any ponies leave wearing servant uniforms." Iron nodded and motioned for the other two to follow. enigma noticed that they had left behind their armor.


End file.
